India finish Asian Games without individual badminton medal
India’s badminton team finished the 2026 Asian Games without an individual medal after PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto lost their quarter-finals. It was India’s first medal-less individual badminton campaign at the Games since 2014, although the men’s team won bronze.
India’s badminton campaign at the 2026 Asian Games ended without an individual medal after four quarter-final defeats on September 27. PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto all lost their respective matches. India therefore completed its first Asian Games campaign without an individual badminton medal since 2014.
The defeats came against higher-ranked opponents. The losses involving Kapila and Crasto, and Unnati and Sindhu, went to three games, while India’s women’s doubles pair struggled against Malaysia’s fifth-ranked Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. Treesa and Gayatri lost the opening game 18-21 before dropping the second 9-21.
The Malaysian pair repeatedly targeted Gayatri’s backhand and moved her towards the back of the court. Kapila and Crasto faced the world’s top-ranked mixed-doubles pair, Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dongping. The Indians lost the first game 14-21, recovered to win the second 21-18 and then narrowly lost the deciding game 18-21 after a match lasting one hour and 16 minutes.
Unnati, playing less than 24 hours after her previous match, lost to world number three Akane Yamaguchi 16-21, 21-14, 17-21. Sindhu then lost to Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei 21-11, 18-21, 10-21. India’s men’s team provided the contingent’s only badminton medal, taking bronze after losing 1-3 to defending champions China in the semi-final on September 23.
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